Well this should make things even more interesting when State Senator Malcolm Smith returns to court again in January.

Smith got into hot water with the feds after he was busted in an undercover sting operation trying to bribe his way on to the Republican Primary ballot in the 2013 mayor's race. But at a debate last week at a church in Jamaica, Smith was given two minutes to address his legal issues and said not only was he innocent, but he was just a pawn in part of a larger plot to gentrify southeast Queens.

Smith is just one of several African-American elected officials to run afoul of the law recently, a list that includes Brooklyn state senators Carl Krueger and John Sampson and former Smith colleague Shirley Huntley, a former Queens state senator who is now in jail.

But at last week's debate, Smith said they were all part of a larger plot to wrest control of southeast Queens away from current residents as part of a larger gentrification plan and ultimately big-time real estate development.

The best part is that in January, the sinister plot – including the mastermind – will all be revealed in exacting detail when Smith heads back before a judge, Smith promised last week. Of course, Smith couldn't offer up much more detail than that – delicate legal matters and all, of course – so like you, we'll have just have to be on the edges of our seats for the next five months.

In the meantime, we can waste our days speculating on just who this mastermind is.